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Joshua Chapter 21
- Joshua 21:1 Then came near the
heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and
unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of
the tribes of the children of Israel;
- 2 And they spake unto
them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded
by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the
suburbs thereof for our cattle.
- 3 And the children of
Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the
commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs.
- 4 And the lot came out
for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron
the priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the
tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the
tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.
13 cities was given to them from the tribe of
Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. Because the tribe of the Levites were
set apart in service to the Lord, they didn't inherit a whole land
grant similar to the other tribes. Instead they were given cities
scattered within all the tribes to be ministers to the Lord.
Tithes from the other tribes were to be given
to them to support them so that their families could have something
to live on. Levitical priests had families and were allowed to
marry. There is no place in the bible that forbids marriage to those
who are priests, pastors or leaders of any church, synagogue or
place of worship. So from the tribe of Levi, some of the Kohathites
resided within Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.
-
Joshua 21:5 And the rest of the
children of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe
of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half
tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.
The rest of the Kohathites dwelled among the
tribe of Ephraim, half tribe of Manasseh. Ephraim and Manasseh were
the sons of Joseph and they kept the number of the tribes as 12 like
the original. Splitting Joseph in two as prophesied by Jacob years
before, they replaced the tribe of Levi which was called to serve and
minister spiritual matters, sacrifices and the altar of the Lord.
-
Joshua 21:6 And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar,
and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali,
and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen
cities.
Another family from the tribe of Levi, the
family of Gershon dwelled in 13 cities scattered among the tribes of
Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the other half of Manasseh.
God has such care for details some of us
would never think of. He instructed Moses in everything.
How to support those that labor for the Lord, how to care for the
poor, and how to just live. Awesome.
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Joshua 21:7 The children of Merari by their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out
of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve
cities.
The family of Merari dwelled among the tribe
of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun and had 12 cities.
- Joshua 21:8 And the children of
Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their
suburbs, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.
- 9 And they gave out of
the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the
children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by
name,
- 10 Which the children of
Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the
children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot.
- 11 And they gave them
the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in
the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about
it.
- 12 But the fields of the
city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
- 13 Thus they gave to the
children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a
city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,
- 14 And Jattir with her
suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,
- 15 And Holon with her
suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs,
- 16 And Ain with her
suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Bethshemesh with her
suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.
- 17 And out of the tribe
of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,
- 18 Anathoth with her
suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities.
- 19 All the cities of the
children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their
suburbs.
- 20 And the families of
the children of Kohath, the Levites which remained of the
children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of
the tribe of Ephraim.
- 21 For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of
refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs,
- 22 And Kibzaim with her
suburbs, and Bethhoron with her suburbs; four cities.
- 23 And out of the tribe
of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs,
- 24 Aijalon with her
suburbs, Gathrimmon with her suburbs; four cities.
- 25 And out of the half
tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gathrimmon with
her suburbs; two cities.
- 26 All the
cities were ten with their suburbs for the families of the
children of Kohath that remained.
- 27 And unto the children
of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of
the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with
her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beeshterah with her suburbs; two cities.
- 28 And out of the tribe
of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs,
- 29 Jarmuth with her
suburbs, Engannim with her suburbs; four cities.
- 30 And out of the tribe
of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs,
- 31 Helkath with her
suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs; four cities.
- 32 And out of the tribe
of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of
refuge for the slayer; and Hammothdor with her suburbs, and
Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.
- 33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities
with their suburbs.
- 34 And unto the families
of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the
tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her
suburbs,
- 35 Dimnah with her
suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four cities.
- 36 And out of the tribe
of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs,
- 37 Kedemoth with her
suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs; four cities.
- 38 And out of the tribe
of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of
refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs,
- 39 Heshbon with her
suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all.
- 40 So all the cities for
the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining
of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.
- 41 All the cities of the
Levites within the possession of the children of
Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs.
- 42 These cities were
every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all
these cities.
We see from the verses above that the
division of the cities among the tribes were described in detail and
recorded.
- Joshua 21:43 And the LORD gave
unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their
fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
- 44 And the LORD gave
them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their
fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before
them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.
- 45 There failed not
ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house
of Israel; all came to pass.
So now with all the land divided and the
people settled, the Lord gave them rest from war and fighting. God
is a merciful and loving God and knew when to give them rest.
They could have had it good dwelling with God
and He would have blessed them abundantly but alas, sin lies at
their doors as we see when we study the whole Old Testament. It is
an example of the struggles of the church in later years which also
had problems with sin and departing from the first love. Departing
from our first love and commitment to God is the first step to sin,
idolatry and other things that have always plagued mankind.
The church in later years took the example of
the Levitical priesthood to appoint priests and began to receive
tithes to support the church. I doubt very much that God ordained
the clergy of priests for the church like he did for Israel. Through
Christ all of us become priests in what we call the priesthood of
the believers. No more intercessors between God and man is needed
since we become believers in Christ. We receive His Holy Spirit
within us and can seek God as individuals ourselves.
We still need to worship together with other
believers and have good godly leadership to help keep order and keep
out the wolves and false teachers but we do not need an intercessor
between God and man.
Through Christ the law of giving and serving
the Lord if taught and done right becomes a matter of doing things
in love and because we love God and love our fellow believers in the
Lord. If all would love the Lord with all their hearts and their
neighbors as they love themselves, we wouldn't need any other
commandments. I think the reason we are tempted to make a
commandment about tithing mandatory is because we start to fear that
people will not give so many use pressure instead of trusting God.
I will end this thought by bringing out the
fact that if we want a central place of worship that belongs to
everyone, we do need to give. If we don't give we can't pay
for the upkeep. If we want a pastor full time instead of
having his time divided between a secular job and work of the
church, then we do have to support him and his family. That is
common sense.
Some do not believe in having a pastor.
That is their choice I guess but without someone in charge, false
teachers and charlatans have free access to enter into the flock and
draw people into false teaching more easily. A board of godly
elders is good to keep the pastor from becoming one of the false
teachers.
So tithing isn't a bad system because
God thought of it and ordained it for Israel but making it a
mandatory commandment is adding to scripture for it is not a
commandment for the church. After Christ came, things change from
doing things required by the law to doing things by the law of love.
When God's spirit abides within us, our desires should change so
that we want to give and do what is right. Actually it's fun to give
when done by love and the spirit of God instead of fear. DC
Joshua 22
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